Now, put it in reverse.

 

thanks to rporras - pixabay

Dad needed Mom to drive the car with the camper trailer attached. She was unsure about it, but he said she would do fine. My brother and I stood some distance away until the small maneuvering project was finished. The plan was to move on to a new place to camp.

Dad was calling instructions out to Mom who had the window open and seemed to be trying to figure the thing out by herself. My memory of the event is dim. I think my dad wanted her to know how to drive the car with the camper attached “just in case.”

Dad called out to stop. My mom got out of the car and slammed the door shut walking away. Once again I witnessed the all too familiar scene: Mom was upset and angry, Dad was trying to make her feel better and apologizing.

I don’t remember the words, but I remember the black cloud that hung over the family the entire day.

Mom had jack-knifed the car into the trailer because she moved too fast to react. Instead of fixing it she just gave up. Now there was a dent in the camper and, as she said, the trip was completely ruined, and we might as well go home.

Dad did his best to untangle the mess and later, at the new camping location, when it seemed safe to look, I took a peek at the dent. It was pretty small compared to the drama we had witnessed.

As usual, my brother and I played until dark, trying to forget the cloud over our heads, trying to pretend it was just a nice weekend of camping with our family.

My mom didn’t talk for the rest of the day.

This event is burned into my mind and emotions and only until recently have I realized how it effected my own married life.

My husband grew up working on his uncle’s farm and drove everything he was asked to drive, tractor, stick, with and without trailers, automatic, tiny Volkswagen, huge box truck.

I learned to drive two cars before we married, a Chevy Impala and my first car, a Chevy Nova two-door. I was proficient in heavy Phoenix traffic and reading maps, but anything other than a car was terrifying to me.

There was no reason for this since I had never been in an accident while driving.

When it was time for me to drive other vehicles my husband had purchased, I froze. Of course he couldn’t understand why. Doesn’t everyone drive everything?

When I realized my fears were irrational and I needed to learn this thing to help him, I set my mind to learning, taking instruction from my husband, and trusting I wouldn’t accidently hit anything important or hurt myself. It took years, but I finally got comfortable driving vans, trucks, and other things with motors. I even learned to push or tow one vehicle with another.

I am proud of these moments.

They prove God is good and can empower us to overcome irrational fears set in us since childhood.

They also prove there is nothing wrong with going in reverse. Just take your time, understand why you’re doing it, and learn from your mistakes.

 

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:13-14

_RHTM_

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